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America Movil (AMX) Q1 Earnings Beat, Revenues Rise Y/Y

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Mexican telecom behemoth America Movil S.A.B. (AMX - Free Report) reported impressive financial results in the first quarter of 2017. Both the top line and the bottom line outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Net income was $1,812 million, up a whopping 538% year over year. Quarterly earnings per ADR (American Depository Receipt) of 53 cents were significantly higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 32 cents per ADR.

Total revenue of approximately $13,033 million highlighted an improvement of 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Segment-wise, Services revenues were around $11,411.2 million, up 19% year over year. Equipment revenues totaled $1,622.4 million, up 14.6% year over year on growing demand for smartphones and tablets.

Total cost and expenses in the first quarter increased 19.5% year over year to $9,505.5 million. Quarterly EBITDA improved 15.8% year over year to $3,528 million. However, EBITDA margin was 27.1% compared with 27.7% in the year-ago quarter.

Liquidity

At the end of the first quarter of 2017, America Movil had around $3,069.7 million of cash and marketable securities compared with $3,935 million at the end of 2016. At the end of the reported quarter, total debt was around $31,904.7 million compared with $35,673.2 million at 2016-end. The debt-to-capitalization ratio in first-quarter 2017 was 0.70, flat with 2016-end figure.

Subscriber Statistics

As of Mar 31, 2017, America Movil's total subscriber count was approximately 362.7 million down 0.7% year over year. Total wireless subscriber base was 279.818 million, down 1.4% year over year. In the reported quarter, the company added a net 632,000 postpaid wireless customers but lost a net 1.4 million prepaid customers. Fixed-line revenue generating units were 82.84 million, up 1.8% year over year. Broadband accesses lines were up 6.4% after connecting 258,000 customers in the reported quarter.

Prime Regional Segments Results

Quarterly revenues from Mexico, America Movil's home ground, decreased 2.1% year over year to $3,130.1 million. EBITDA declined 12.6% to $998.4 million. Mexican ARPU (average revenue per user) decreased 2.3% year over year to $6.365 while the churn rate was 4.2%, compared with 4.1% in the prior-year quarter.

Revenues from Brazilian operation are down 0.5% year over year to $445.3 million. EBITDA increased 5% to $123.8 million. Meanwhile, Brazilian ARPU came in at $4.35, up 8.3% year over year while the churn rate was 3.4% compared with 3.6% in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues from America Movil's U.S. operation (Tracfone) increased 13.1% year over year to $1,985 million. EBITDA improved a substantial 30.4% to $211 million. ARPU rose 11.2% year over year to $23, while the churn rate was 5.4% compared with 4.3% in the year-ago quarter.

America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. Quote

America Movil is facing intense competitive pressure from big telecom operators like Telefonica SA (TEF - Free Report) and AT&T Inc. (T - Free Report) in Mexico who are gradually expanding their foothold in the market. Further, Mexico’s telecom regulatory authority granted permission to cable TV and media giant Grupo Televisa SA (TV - Free Report) to start wireless operations in the region. However, the company is yet to take any decision in this regard. America Movil currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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